But no matter which bandwidth model you subscribed to, the way it’s worked so far is that everyone who has a Karma Go personal 4G router is broadcasting an “open” signal that anyone with a WiFi device can connect to, via a “captive portal” where they have to log in through their computer or device’s web browser. Those who don’t have Karma accounts yet get 100 megabytes of free bandwidth for creating one (but they have to pay for additional bandwidth to go on using beyond that). Those who do have accounts can log in and use their own bandwidth. Either way, it doesn’t cost the owner of the hotspot anything, except a slightly slower connection for his own devices—and each new customer who creates an account also adds 100 megabytes to the router owner’s bandwidth allotment. (Or $1 of credit, if the router owner subscribes to the monthly-fee plan.) Unlike unencrypted routers of old, these public connections are fully isolated from each other, so one user can’t snoop on the activities of another.

However, now Karma is changing things up by offering a private hotspot mode, in which the router switches over to acting like a “traditional” personal hotspot. The router gets a fully customizable userID and password, and drops the captive portal. (This is beneficial for people who use devices like Blu-ray players, printers, Apple TVs, and so forth that simply can’t deal with a web-based login.) Hence, owners of the routers can be sure that only they get the benefit of that sweet, sweet wireless bandwidth—and they can also share it with family or friends by sharing their router password without having to log them into their own Karma accounts on all their devices. On the other hand, it also means they don’t get the benefit of extra bandwidth or credit from random guests connecting. The private hotspot mode can be enabled or disabled at will.

However, Karma isn’t doing this out of the goodness of its own heart. This private access is billed as a “premium feature,” which will cost an extra $15 per month to pay-as-you-go customers and $5 per month to subscription users—with $5 off the first month as a trial offer. It’s also only the first such feature Karma plans to offer; it will be rolling out others in months to come—including ones that should let customers better control their data usage.

I haven’t personally had any problems from strangers connecting to my own Karma Go. Even when they do, I don’t tend to use enough bandwidth at any one time that I’ve noticed a slowdown. I’m not a heavy-enough user that I need to go to a monthly fee—pay-as-you-go works great for me. And the notifications of new users are nice—not so much for the extra bandwidth, which amounts to 50 cents’ worth per customer at the rate at which I’ve always bought data, but for the warm feeling of knowing that I’m making it possible for these folks to check their email or social media—or download e-books!—where they might not have been able to before.

I also haven’t had to use any devices that balk at captive portal logins, but if I should, I have a convenient workaround at my disposal—a CrystalView travel router/repeater that can itself log into captive portals, then pass their signal on via a traditional access point. So I wouldn’t need that aspect of the private hotspot mode either. (For that matter, if I was traveling in a vehicle with power outlets, such as an Amtrak train or a car with an inverter hooked in, I could share it on the go, too.)

The Karma Go router costs $149, but prospective owners can get $10 off via my referral link—which also provides me with $10 credit each time someone uses it. I racked up over $2,000 worth of credit that way during Karma’s first few months, but haven’t had very many at all since the furor over the “unlimited” plan and its repeated cutbacks—apparently Karma’s repeated retreats harmed its reputation significantly. But for the way I personally use bandwidth, I’ve found the Karma Go to be indispensable for using my smartphone or any one of my multiple tablets or Kindles wherever I might be—even in the passenger seat of an SUV tooling down the Interstate!—and also for home use those few times when my cable Internet has been down for service. So I plan to keep right on using it.

Even if the “unlimited” plan debacle left a bad taste in people’s mouths, I’ve never cared for that kind of monthly fee plan. I don’t tend to use huge amounts of mobile bandwidth—you don’t need that much of it for email, web browsing, or—my favorite—downloading e-books. Indeed, even the 100 megabytes you get as a Karma guest would let you download literally dozens of (normal-sized) e-books before you ran out. Plus, providing that access to others helps you out a little, too. So, I think Karma’s pay-as-you-go offering is just right for e-book lovers—especially those who use pay-as-you-go phones that don’t incorporate their own tethering hotspot portal.

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Published by Chris Meadows

TeleRead Editor and Senior Writer Chris Meadows has been writing for TeleRead--except for a brief interruption--since 2006. Son of two librarians, he has worked on a third-party help line for Best Buy and holds degrees in computer science and communications. He clearly personifies TeleRead's motto: "For geeks who love books--and book-lovers who love gadgets." Chris lives in Indianapolis and is active in the gamer community.
View all posts by Chris Meadows

Have you checked the Refuel data rate lately? They have eliminated the volume discount for 5 and 10 GB purchases! They have yet to run another two-for-one sale as well.

This change has made me question the wisdom of my purchase of a Karma Go, as at this point the economics are much less competitive. I have the sunk cost of the Karma Go, but I bought it used on eBay and I guess I could sell it there as well if a better option becomes available.

I have complained to them about this, but I have not received any assurance of better pricing in the future.

I hadn’t noticed the pricing change–I still have 50 GB remaining from the first chunk of data I bought from them–but that is disappointing. When I run out of credit, I may well cease to use the service altogether myself, if they don’t come up with some better pricing by then. It appears they’re trying to make pay-as-you-go data no longer appear to be such a good deal to try to push their monthly services.

karma was a wonderful thing when it was 1st released on the Clear wireless network. it worked perfectly and speeds were reasonbly fast. HOWEVER, along came Sprint and Karma became too slow to use. at $75 per 10gb at 0.2Mbps to 5Mbps speeds. i now have 9gb of unused worthless data. i do check Karma speeds from time to time to see if speeds improve but it never does. i have a 10gb per month mobile plan with personal hotspot speeds of over 20 Mps speeds on the down and over 10Mbps on the up on my mobile plan. so for Karma’s slow speeds for $75 for 10gb i get reasonably fast speeds of 10gb for $60 per month plus cost of purchasing a phone, including unlimited north american calling and texting, etc. unused data rolls over every month for the remainder of the calendar year. i would have to rate Karma — no stars!!! what once was great and enviable is no longer.

I’m not having too many problems with my Karma at the moment—but I just noticed when I went to buy more bandwidth that they’re now only allowing people to use their referral credit for 25% of a new bandwidth purchase. Well, so much for the $1,437 in credit I still have with them; there’s no way I’m paying any of my own cash for their service.

My Karma go device stopped working after very little use and left me with $150 worth of unusable data along with the useless plastic. I had stockpiled some Karma Go data, and used only small amounts when the power went out or I traveled. It proved trying, as the battery was always dead very quickly. So, I just left it plugged in. Then the next time the power went out, the battery was charged, but it had in some mysterious way stopped functioning in its sleep. All the lights come on as if it is receiving signal, but it is not broadcasting anything. Weeks of trading e-mails with a “Customer Experience” person, who clearly does not speak English well, resulted in me finally being told to pay another $176 for a new device and “use our services without any further issues.” I am stuck with $300 of unusable cheap junk and imaginary connectivity. Plus, they are sending e-mails to induce me to pay them $6 a month from now on to keep the honor of being able to buy “use any time” data, which was their whole sales pitch in the beginning and they have now stopped offering at all except to us lucky “grandfathered” customers.

Yeah, I’m not so pleased with Karma myself lately. I should have sunk more of the credit they gave me into data, but I was saving most of it against having some better use for it down the road. More fool I; now they made it so I can only pay for 25% of any purchase using that $1,400 of credit I still have.

Plus, they’re effectively dumping Refuel in favor of a $3-a-month-plus-bandwidth-charges program. The reasons they cite make sense from their perspective, but they aren’t exactly endearing them to me.